Jupiter's Legacy
Netflix | Release Date: May 7, 2021
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
10
Negative:
5

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Detroit NewsTom LongMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: The proliferation of characters can be disorienting and super-Bibb is criminally underused, but “Jupiter’s Legacy” works for the most part if your idea of entertainment leans that way. Glittering costumes, eyes that shoot laser beams, explosions and destruction galore. That’s entertainment circa 2021. Read full review
70
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: So much of the eight episodes in the first season are dedicated to telling parallel origin stories that it can sometimes get weighed down with the burden of that structure, but there are interesting themes weaved through this adaptation of the comic series of the same name by Mark Millar ("Wanted," "Kick-Ass") and Frank Quitely. Read full review
60
EmpireJames DyerSep 20, 2021
Season 1 Review: More straightforward than The Umbrella Academy but lacking the playfulness or bite of The Boys, this is a decent enough stab at superhero deconstruction, if one that takes itself far too seriously. Read full review
60
The GuardianLucy ManganMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: It’s all engaging enough, but a certain airlessness constrains the entertainment value. ... The problem is that it comes perilously close to taking itself too seriously. Any opportunity for fun is shut down by perpetually morose teens, action set-pieces we have seen many times before and clunky speeches about the state of the world. Read full review
50
PolygonSamantha NelsonMay 8, 2021
Season 1 Review: There are plenty of problems with America, and with the superhero genre’s relationship with violence and politics, but Jupiter’s Legacy doesn’t really address any of them. Like The Utopian himself, the show’s creators are stuck looking back at an imagined Golden Age, with no way to move forward and build something better. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: For a series about superheroes, Jupiter's Legacy moves in what feels like slow motion. The result is a Netflix drama that's impressive in its scope -- adding to the growing roster of dark comic-book tales -- but frustrating in its sluggish pacing, oscillating between twin timelines over the course of its eight initial episodes. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineAllison KeeneMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: There are interesting sparks of narrative interest here, but they are all but snuffed out over and over again by the flat, shallow scripts and the way the show’s women and minority characters are handled about as well as they would have been in the actual 1930s. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: The story is ultra-convoluted and has what feels like an ever-expanding cast. Read full review
42
The PlaylistMike DeAngeloMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: This series might have felt revolutionary nearly a decade ago (when the comic series was originally published), but today it just treads on tired and well-worn territory. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubDanette ChavezMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: A slack, derivative story with flat visuals and action. It’s a show so utterly disinterested in its present that it wallows in the past for lengthy stretches of each of its eight episodes, and then bets everything on the final moments of its season finale. Read full review
40
Radio TimesDavid CraigDec 2, 2021
Season 1 Review: The source material is perfectly sound, but this adaptation doesn’t do it a shred of justice. The fleeting moments that work are far outweighed by an uneven cast, lame script and agonising pace, the latter of which is fast becoming a systemic problem suffered by most Netflix original series. Read full review
40
TV GuideKeith PhippsMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: Ultimately, it's not much of anything beyond a slowly unreeling plot played out by thinly realized characters sometimes accompanied by some decently realized special effects. Read full review
30
SalonMelanie McFarlandMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: There are a few reasons to root for "Jupiter's Legacy" notwithstanding its wince-worthy shortcomings. Duhamel and most of the cast turn in decent performances, especially considering the material they're working with. Read full review
30
DeciderJoel KellerMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: While it’s a valiant try at starting a new superhero franchise, Jupiter’s Legacy can’t wrangle its sprawling mythology well enough to make a coherent and cohesive first episode. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: This eight-episode drama is one of the weakest and most forgettable entries in the busy genre. It’s a derivative bore, without even visual inspiration to compensate. Read full review
25
IndieWireBen TraversMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: Unconvincing in its high-falutin talking points as it is with its wigs and wirework. Read full review
20
Rolling StoneAlan SepinwallMay 7, 2021
Season 1 Review: It is a stultifying mess of a show on pretty much every level. It’s meant to be viewed with utmost seriousness, yet it feels like a parody where someone forgot to insert the jokes. Read full review
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